Scale Model World Telford 2010

A selection of the best models from this year's show and show video reports posted on youtube courstesy of Meindert de Vreeze of IPMS Netherlands. Just one click on the video to view here

Historic dockyard Portsmouth

While modellers headed north to Telford this weekend, parental duties saw me making the three hour drive down to Portsmouth and the chance for a quick tour of the dockyard was on the cards. We missed Ark Royal which had already left for her farewell tour of the UK but HMS Dauntless was tied up alongside the quay - the Royal Navy's newest ship, a Type 45 destroyer built at a cost of over £ 1 billion !
The kids were hugely impressed by HMS Victory of course and it was most amusing eavesdropping on some French tourists explaining to their kids exactly what HMS Victory is famous for ! A few pics of some of the models on display although as they were in display cases the pictures are pretty poor. The dockyard is recommended for a great day out !

Airfix Spitfire Mk. 1 610 Sqd, Hawkinge (1/72)

Finished in the markings of P/O George Hudson, 610 Sqn.

Lovely little kit, shame about the rather thick canopy. Parts fit was very good again, although I had to work hard to clip the canopy in place. Replaced the gunsight with clear card and some of the cockpit detail is visible including the control column, so that was pleasing. For once the decals work almost perfectly, almost the first time I've been able to say that about these new tool Airfix kits. The result looks better in my book than the equivalent diecast, which is one of the benchmarks I use when building a model nowadays. Finished up with a Promodeller 'Dark dirt' wash, although once again I end up thinking that this really is a product that is very over-rated - I much prefer an oil pin wash. Now to finish some more of these Spits using the Southern Expo Hornchurch decal sheet..

Eduard Royal Class Bf 110 - quarter scale instrument panel

A look inside the Eduard Bf 110 Royal Class boxing - acres of plastic and as a bonus a nice quarter scale instrument panel which has been built here by Kent who posted his pics of the finished panel over on britmodeller.com. That's a Cutting Edge decal sheet in the box which I really don't need as there are around eight options on the decal sheet ..

Airfix Spitfire Mk 1

new tool Spitfire from Airfix features a nicely detailed cockpit. Assembly is fairly straight forward although the locating plugs/holes are far too tight a fit and tend to force the parts apart. Some fettling is required to get the wings on at the wingroot - again a nice tight fit results. Some filler necessary on the wing/fuselage undersurfaces join. Gear legs just plug in. Tyres are nicely weighted too.

new tool Airfix Spitfire Mk 1 and ICM leichte Panzerspähwagen 222

After three weeks of relative inactivity due to a change of job, time to get back to work before the colder weather prevents me from getting anything at all done..

The new Airfix Spitfire looks to be a superb model - a low parts count for the younger modeller (36) and well detailed enough for the afficionado. Couldn't resist picking up enough boxes for all the options on the Southern Expo Hornchurch vs. the Luftwaffe decal sheet

Although this is a Mk VIII cockpit it provides useful detail for the correct grey-green interior colour, the brown of the composite material from which the seat is made and the black leather seat cushion

Also opened up the neat ICM 222 today - MMI had a nice 'walkaround' of a restored example in a recent issue used as the backdrop for my pictures